Much beloved former rebel officer passes away

_{17 January 2009}

A man of jolly disposition and ready to tackle any physical task, whether it be fighting, singing, dancing, cooking, writing or weaving, he had won many friends wherever he went, both in Thailand and Burma.
 
“There’s only one thing I don’t know how to do,” he once boasted, “and that’s speaking English.”

Born a Danu, one of the Tibeto-Burman races in Shan State, he joined the resistance with ten of his friends and relatives in 1960 and rose up to become Chief of Staff for one of the famous Shan fighting commanders Gunjade. His longest assignment was as a liaison officer in Chiangmai from 1985-95.
 
After his retirement from active service, he was most sought out by the neighborhood for his expertise in astrology.
 
He died of diabetes. He had just passed 71 on 15 November.
 
The Danu live in the border country between the Shan State and Burma proper. Though of Tibeto-Burman stock and speak a sort of Burmese dialect, “they have a firm conviction that they are a separate race and their young women are among the prettiest,” wrote J.C.Scott who had served as the Commissioner for Shan States. Of the 34 princely states that formed a federation in 1920, 7 of them, namely, Hsamongkham, Pwela, Baw, Pangtara, Ywa-ngan, Pangmi and Kyong were Danu.
 
The ruling generals have designated two townships: Ywa-ngan and Pindaya (Pangtara) as the Danu Self-Administered Zone.
 
The day for his funeral has yet to be decided by the village administration.